Russia's finance minister predicted Wednesday that 2016 would be a difficult year for his country's recession-hit economy, already reeling from low oil prices. 

As the economy slides, Russia's battered ruble reached a 2015 low on Wednesday, standing at 73.24 against the dollar, a year after suffering its worst decline in 15 years.

Oman's government will hike fuel prices, charges for public services and corporate taxes in the face of falling oil prices, the official ONA agency reported Wednesday.

Non-OPEC Oman is the latest Gulf state to announce austerity plans amid falling oil revenues that have lead to big budget deficits.

Global economic growth will be "disappointing and patchy" in 2016, the head of the International Monetary Fund, Christine Lagarde, wrote in an article published in the German business daily Handelsblatt on Wednesday. 

Rising interest rates in the United States, the economic slowdown in China, the persistent fragility of the financial system in a number of countries and the effects of low oil prices on producer countries "all mean that global growth in 2016 will be disappointing and patchy," Lagarde wrote. 

Saudi economic growth is set to slow further in 2016 after the OPEC heavyweight announced record deficits due to the slump in oil prices, an economic report said Wednesday.

Jadwa Investment forecast the Saudi economy would grow by just 1.9 percent next year, down from 3.3 percent this year and 3.5 percent in 2014.

Oil prices resumed their decline in Asia on Wednesday ahead of the release of data on U.S. crude stockpiles and production.

Prices have been volatile during the holiday-shortened final week of 2015 and remained near multi-year lows in the face of indications a global crude supply glut will continue into next year.

Swiss private bank Julius Baer said Wednesday it had reached an agreement to settle a U.S. criminal investigation into claims that it helped rich Americans dodge taxes.

"Julius Baer has reached an agreement in principle with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York with respect to a comprehensive resolution regarding its legacy U.S. cross-border business," said a statement from the Zurich-based bank.

The boss of Beijing-based solar energy firm Hanergy Thin Film Power Group is selling a stake in the company at a massive discount in Hong Kong, as the once high-flying firm faces a continuing regulatory probe.

Hanergy grew more than sixfold to became the world's largest solar power company by market value before dramatically suspending trading in May after its stocks plunged 47 percent.

Saudi shares dived at the start of trading Tuesday a day after the oil-rich kingdom announced a record $98 billion deficit this year and said it was drastically cutting fuel subsidies.

The Tadawul All-Shares Index (TASI) fell by 3.1 percent minutes after opening to 6,777.05 points, close its lowest level this year.

The euro held its gains in thin trading Tuesday, after a European Central Bank (ECB) official hinted at another wave of stimulus, while fears about China's economy dented the yuan.

ECB executive board member Yves Mersch said policymakers have "by no means used up all our ammunition", according to an excerpt from an interview with the International Bankers Forum.

Tokyo's benchmark stock index was flat Tuesday morning, as another slump in oil prices and weak data out of China and Japan reignited concerns about the global economy.

The Japanese market picked up a weak lead from Wall Street, where the main indices ended in the red on Monday following the slide in crude prices.